Nigeria, Oct. 20 -- There are moments in a nation's life when its people hear their own voices with unusual clarity. This is one such moment. In the last week of August this year, a significant event occurred - one that neither the nation's leadership nor its citizens paused to consider fully. During that period, three voices known for their measured judgment-former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan, and the Sultan of Sokoto - spoke openly about what many Nigerians quietly acknowledge: justice in Nigeria is too often something bought, rather than earned.

When justice becomes a commodity, when money, influence, and power can sway its course, courts cease to be bastions of order and transform into markets of outcomes. The ...